Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Texas House Reps Discuss Constitutional Amendments

The November 3rd ballot will offer voters eleven proposed constitutional amendments. There will be no party identification after each amendment, no "R" or "D" to make voting easier. What is the lazy voter supposed to do?

You could, like I did, attend the League of Women Voters of Richardson forum (Oct 20, 7pm, RISD Auditorium) at which three Texas House district representatives, two Republican and one Democrat, presented the pros and cons of each amendment. The representatives are Jerry Madden (District 67), Angie Chen Button (District 112) and Carol Kent (District 102). But no simple partisan party differences existed here to guide the lazy voter. All three representatives are *for* all eleven amendments. Not much "con" was heard all night.

If you are used to deciding a political issue just by looking at which party is for it and which party is against it, that just won't work this time. Just to make it onto the ballot a proposed amendment needs two-thirds support in the legislature, meaning all eleven of these proposed amendments have broad bipartisan support.

If just knowing a proposal has broad bipartisan support is enough for you to support it too, then you can safely vote *yes* for all eleven amendments. Conversely, if you think Republicans and Democrats are equally corrupt, then you can vote against both parties by voting *no* on all eleven amendments.

But if you want an independent opinion, you can read The Wheel's own carefully considered and wisely decided recommendations, then nod your head in approval and vote accordingly. See if you can find the one amendment where I break with the crowd and recommend a *no* vote.